Currently used automatic cigarette processing machines are extremely complicated both mechanically and electronically. In recent years, conventional drives with mechanisms powered by a main motor have been replaced with a number of independent drives, each synchronized with all the others; and, to improve product quality, increasingly sophisticated checks have been introduced for both direct product control (e.g. optical checks using television cameras) and process control (e.g. of sealing temperature using thermal sensors, of wrapping material supply, etc.).
As a consequence of the increasing use of electronics in the control of automatic machines, these now call for both mechanical setup (i.e. of the mechanical parts of the machine)—still necessary, even though to a lesser degree than before—and electronic setup (i.e. of the electronic parts of the machine), both of which must be performed not only when installing and testing the machine but also (albeit to a lesser extent) at subsequent manufacturing stages, e.g. when making product changes, alongside variations in raw material quality, or in the course of routine servicing or repairs.
Electronic setup comprises initializing and/or configuring both the application program (controlling the machine as a whole) and the various work station control programs (controlling individual parts of the machine) by means of an operator interface (or so-called “HMI” device) featuring a screen for displaying machine status and operation, and an input device (typically a keyboard and/or pointer) for receiving operator commands. More specifically, the operator interface provides for configuring the machine by permitting operator control of the various monitoring and/or regulating items by which the status and operation of the machine are displayed, and which enable the operator to set up and configure the machine as required.
On the operator interface of known automatic cigarette processing machines, the numerous regulating and monitoring items are indicated by groups of letters with associated text strings, whole lists of which are displayed on the operator interface screen, and which must be scrolled carefully even by a skilled operator to safely select the required regulating or monitoring item. This therefore involves a good deal of time, is subject to error, by similar strings easily being mistaken for one another, and calls for long, high-cost training of the operator who must have a thorough knowledge of the structure of the machine.